Through experiential and highly interactive programmes, leaders are provided with a Jungian psychological approach that focuses on the 12 archetypal dimensions of leadership transformation, each with its own set of values, meanings and personality traits.
The 12 archetypes – Innocent, Orphan, Warrior, Caregiver, Explorer, Lover, Destroyer, Creator, Ruler, Magician, Sage and Jester – reflect the various roles that leaders can play in organizations and put a human face to the attitudes, interactions, and recurring patterns of behaviour that influence their effectiveness.
Similarly, a lack of fit between a leader’s archetype and the context in which he or she operates is a main cause of team and organizational dysfunctionality and executive failure.
Taken together, the archetypes form a holistic view of individual and organizational transformation that is empirically validated and culturally relevant to understanding the role of leadership in Sri Lanka.
“The Warrior is actually the fundamental archetype for leadership,” says Michel.
“The basic requirements of the Warrior leader in its positive pole are mental toughness, professional competence, emotional control, realistic decision-making and motivating others to the highest levels of achievement.
But leaders who lack consciousness of the fullest potential of the Warrior archetype can also slide into its negative pole and see their role as a “win at any cost” version of leadership.”
“There’s also a very real problem when CEOs overextend their stay in the Warrior.
They then unconsciously suppress other archetypes that are just as critical to the leadership role.
The best example is the post-2009 market.
In category after category, you find a weak organizational capability in developing new product or service innovations that has failed to generate significant market share or profitability gains for homegrown brands in Sri Lanka.
To reverse the downward pressure of competing on price and volume, leaders need to expand their consciousness beyond the Warrior’s head-to-head competitive style by also activating their Creator and Magician archetypes.”
The programmes use readings, imagery, visualizations, exercises and other thought-provoking perspectives, models, tools, and practical actions for CEOs and emerging leaders to ‘try on’ and enhance their relationship with each archetype.
“At the end of the programme, leaders will be able to intentionally use the resources, skills and tools from each archetype to show up more fully in their work and life”, says Michel.
“They will also be able to notice when an archetype is active or inactive by observing language, emotions, and behaviours in themselves and others.”
Michel Nugawela has branded and repositioned many of Sri Lanka’s most renowned and respected brands, including Aitken Spence PLC, Hayleys PLC, Dipped Products PLC, Nations Trust Bank PLC, HNB Acuity, Heritance Hotels & Resorts, Lion Lager, Elephant House, and Carson Cumberbatch PLC’s regional palm oil businesses in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and India.
Michel brings over two decades of entrepreneurial expertise in senior level corporate consulting that includes brand strategy and positioning, brand architecture, new product/service and value proposition development, corporate and brand identity development, and packaging design.
His extensive experience also includes understanding, evaluating and determining the role of brands in complex situations such as mergers, acquisitions, spin-offs, and diversifications, with related specialization in change strategies across newly rebranded or repositioned organizations that result in new mindsets and behaviours by individuals and teams.
